Populating an E-commerce shopping cart and other E-commerce fields based upon content extracted from natural language input

ABSTRACT

Shopper free form input representing an unstructured shopping request can be received. The free form input can comprises at least two of a free form voice input, a text message, an email, a fax message, a browser input and an image. The free form input can include information related to one or more items, at least one of a shipping address, and payment details. Semantics can be extracted from the shopper free form input relating to at least one item available for sale. At least one item can be automatically added to an electronic shopping cart based upon the extracted semantics. An ability can be provided to a corresponding shopper to automatically purchase the items contained in the electronic shopping cart.

BACKGROUND

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to the field of e-commerce and naturallanguage processing, more particularly, to populating an e-commerceshopping cart and/or other e-commerce fields based upon contentcontained in natural language input.

2. Description of the Related Art

Electronic commerce or e-commerce relates to the conducting of businesscommunication and transactions over networks and through computers. Morespecifically, e-commerce includes a buying and selling of goods andservices and transferring funds using digital communications and oftenautomated systems. Online shopping is one type of e-commercetransaction, which involves a shopper accessing a Web site linked to acommerce server. Shopper-to-commerce server transactions are not limitedto Web based ones but also include telephone based transactions (e.g.,Interactive Voice Response transactions), e-commerce transactions, chatbased transactions, e-mail based transactions, fax based transactions,and the like.

Conventional e-commerce shopping is conducted as one or more directedtransactions between a shopper and an automated system. A shoppertypically browses through a catalogue of available items or uses adatabase search control to search the catalogue based upon shopperprovided criteria. A shopper can select items of interest and can addthem to an electronic shopping cart. Once shopping is completed, theshopper can opt to proceed to a check-out stage, where payment andshipping details can be provided and the shopping session can befinalized.

When a number of available items in the catalogue are large, shoppingfor a few items out of many thousands of items can be a very tedioustask for shoppers. Often, a user is unable to locate a desired item,even though the commerce source being accessed may include that item.This can be especially true when the commerce source includes anamalgamation of items from many different merchant sources. For example,a shopper can interact with a “gateway” source (e.g., AMAZON.COM,SHOPZILLA.COM, and EBAY.COM) that links a shopper to multiple itemsources.

Current approaches to help direct shoppers use guided shoppingtechniques, which are based upon customer preferences determined byquestionnaire responses, customer purchase history, and other suchcriteria. Current guided shopping techniques are used to anticipatecustomer-desired items and are effectively a means for direct marketingor direct advertising.

No known e-commerce technology permits shoppers to conduct shoppingtransactions using free form input. Further, interactive modalities forautomated commerce transactions have been traditionally limited to thosemodalities (e.g., online shopping via the Web) that lend themselves tocatalogue-like interfaces. What is needed is a means to permit customersto conduct e-commerce transactions using free form input, such asnatural language input, which is user-friendly interactive means thatcan be conducted over many different interactive modalities.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the disclosure detail a method, system, computer programproduct, and/or apparatus for e-commerce. In the embodiments, shopperfree form input representing an unstructured shopping request, can bereceived. The free form input can comprises at least two of a free formvoice input, a text message, an email, a fax message, a browser inputand an image, The free form input can include information related to oneor more items, at least one of a shipping address, and payment details.Semantics can be extracted from the shopper free form input relating toat least one item available for sale. At least one item can beautomatically added to an electronic shopping cart based upon theextracted semantics. An ability can be provided to a correspondingshopper to automatically purchase the items contained in the electronicshopping cart.

Embodiments of the disclosure detail a method, system, computer programproduct, and/or apparatus for a shopper facing e-commerce interface. Inthe embodiments, an ecommerce interface can include a natural languageinput element, a shopping cart, and at least one shopping interactiveoption. The natural language input element can be one through which ashopper is able to input an unstructured shopping request in a naturallanguage format. The free form input can comprise at least two of a freeform voice input, a text message, an email, a fax message, a browserinput and an image. The free form input can further comprise informationrelated to one or more items, and at least one of a shipping address,and payment details. The shopping cart can present a set of itemsspecified by the shopper for shopper purchase. The presented items canbe determined from the unstructured shopping request provided via thenatural language input element. The one or more shopping interactiveoptions can be selected by a user. A selection of the shoppinginteractive option results in at least one of a change in the itemspresented in the shopping cart and a finalization of an e-commercetransaction involving a purchase of the items presented in the shoppingcart.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

There are shown in the drawings, embodiments which are presentlypreferred, it being understood, however, that the invention is notlimited to the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an e-commerce shopping system thathandles free form input, which includes natural language input, inaccordance with an embodiment of the inventive arrangements disclosedherein.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a system for handling free form inputduring e-commerce transactions in accordance with an embodiment of theinventive arrangements disclosed herein.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of a method for conducting e-commercetransactions based in part upon free form user input in accordance withan embodiment of the inventive arrangements disclosed herein.

FIG. 4 provides an example of free form text processing during ane-commerce transaction.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart of a method wherein a service agent can configurean e-commerce system to handle free form shopper input in accordancewith an embodiment of the inventive arrangements disclosed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an e-commerce shopping system 100 thathandles free form input, which includes natural language input, inaccordance with an embodiment of the inventive arrangements disclosedherein. More specifically, a shopper 110 can utilize a client device 111hosting a commerce interface 112, which is communicatively linked tonetwork 150. An e-commerce server 120, an input processing system 130,and a merchant system 125 can also be communicatively linked to network150. Shopper 110 can communicate with the e-commerce server 120 within areal-time or a non-real time communication session during which freeform shopper provided input 152 can be conveyed to the e-commerce server120.

E-commerce server 120 can convey the input to input processing system130, which can extract semantic meaning from the input. For example,speech input can be processed by an automatic speech recognition (ASR)engine 134 and then further processed by a natural languageunderstanding (NLU) engine 132. In another example, text contentcontained in a graphical image (i.e., from a facsimile message or froman image file message) can be pre-processed by an optical characterrecognition (OCR) engine 136 before being processed by the NLU engine132. Extracted semantic meanings can be compared to inventory itemsavailable to the shopper 110 for purchase from at least one merchantsystem 125. Matches can be added to an electronic shopping cart or othercommerce artifact provided by the e-commerce server 120. The shopper 110can modify purchase details and/or confirm a purchase via optionsprovided by the commerce interface 112 (i.e., shopper 110 can opt tomodify shopping cart items and/or proceed to check-out). Once ane-commerce transaction has completed, payment can be sent for purchaseditems if necessary, and purchased items 154 can be shipped to an addressdesignated by shopper 110. In one embodiment, this address can beextracted using input processing system 130 from free form shoppingcommunications 152.

As shown in system 100, shopper 110 can be a human actor that engages inan e-commerce transaction. The commerce interface 112 used by theshopper 110 can vary depending on communication type and based upon atype of device 111 upon which the interface 112 executes. Client hostingdevice 111 can include any communication device linked to network 150that is configured to accept shopper input 110, including free forminput 152. The device 111 can include, but is not limited to a computer(e.g., a desktop PC, a client-side server, a notebook computer, a tabletcomputing device, a personal data assistant, a thin client, and thelike), a telephone (e.g., line based phone, mobile telephone, and/orSession Initiation Protocol based phone), a fax machine, an e-mailstation, a text-exchange device (e.g., an instant messaging, a textmessaging, and/or a chat enabling device), a networked scanner, anentertainment gaming device, a media playing device, an embeddedcomputing system, and/or an e-commerce kiosk.

E-commerce server 120 can include any automated or partially automatedsystem used to interact with shopper 110. The e-commerce server 120 can,for example, include a Web server, an Interactive Voice Response (IVR)system, a fax/e-mail processing and routing system, and the like. Thee-commerce server 120 can be dedicated to a particular merchant (e.g.,an online storefront for the merchant) or can centrallyindex/manage/handle e-commerce transactions for items provided bymultiple different merchants (e.g., AMAZON.COM, EBAY.COM that includesaccess to EBAY stores and items sold therein, and the like).

In one embodiment, the e-commerce server 120 can be implemented usingService Oriented Architecture (SOA) based techniques. For instance, theserver 120 can be part of a component service model system that permitsinteractions over numerous modalities and can even include in-sessionmodality switching capabilities in which session state information ispreserved. Conventional solutions for implementing e-commerce server 120can include WEBSPHERE COMMERCE SERVER by International Business MachinesCorporation (IBM), WEBLOGIC COMMERCE SERVER by BEA Systems, and any of avariety of other commercial solutions.

The input processing system 130 can be any system configured to processfree form shopping communications 152 and to extract meaningfule-commerce information, such as customer desired products, shippingaddresses, payment details, and the like. In one embodiment, WEBSPHEREcomponents and extensions can be used to implement the variouscomponents (132-138) of system 130. Other solutions are available,however, any of which can be utilized for system 100.

The disambiguation engine 138 can utilize data, rules, and/orpreferences stored in data store 140 to resolve ambiguities. Forexample, the data store 140 can include historical shopping informationfor shopper 110, which can be used to determine a shopper preferredbrand and size of an otherwise ambiguous item. A shopper profile 110 canalso be stored in data store 140, where customer preferences such ascolors, price thresholds, preferred brands, and the like, can be used byengine 138 to resolve ambiguities. One shopper 110 specific data, suchas credit card number information, home address, work address, and thelike, can be used to translate natural language items (e.g., my home)into a quantified address (e.g., 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington,D.C. 20500) that can be used during e-commerce transaction. Othernon-shopper specific preferences, such as most popular brands soldrecently, most popular colors for an item, and the like, can bemaintained in the data store 140 and used by disambiguation engine 138.

In one embodiment, a confidence value can be established for eachsemantic unit extracted from free form shopping input 152. Theseconfidence values can be compared against user/administratorconfigurable thresholds. When the confidence values exceed an upperthreshold, the semantic unit can be presumed to be accurate andcorresponding e-commerce fields can be automatically filled in. When aconfidence value associated for multiple possible interpretations allexceed a lower threshold, a shopper can be prompted to select one of themultiple interpretations and corresponding e-commerce fields can beautomatically filled in. When an accurate interpretation for a unit offree form input cannot be determined (a confidence value for a semanticunit falls below a designated threshold) the free form unit can eitherbe ignored or can trigger a prompting operation that prompts the shopper110 to clarify their intended meaning for the ambiguous unit.

Network 150 can include any hardware/software/and firmware necessary toconvey digital content encoded within carrier waves. Digital content canbe contained within analog or digital signals and conveyed though dataor voice channels. Network 150 can include local components and datapathways necessary for communications to be exchanged among computingdevice components and between integrated device components andperipheral devices. Network 150 can also include network equipment, suchas routers, data lines, hubs, and intermediary servers which togetherform a data network, such as the Internet. Network 150 can also includecircuit-based communication components and mobile communicationcomponents, such as telephony switches, modems, cellular communicationtowers, and the like. Network 150 can include line based and/or wirelesscommunication pathways.

It should be appreciated that enhancement permitting free form shoppingcommunications 152 to be applied to an e-commerce context can beintegrated into business systems in a variety of fashions. For example,servers 120 and 130 can be integrated into a single e-commercehardware/software system, which can follow either proprietary or openstandards. In another example, enhanced handling of free form input canbe implemented within middleware (e.g., WEBSPHERE APPLICATION SERVER)and remotely accessed via application program interfaces (APIs), linkinglibraries and/or object classes, remote procedure calls, and the like.Further, the ability to handle free form e-commerce input can beimplemented in a Web service, which can be made available to e-retailingcustomers for a valued consideration, such as a fee.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a system 200 for handling free forminput during e-commerce transactions in accordance with an embodiment ofthe inventive arrangements disclosed herein. System 200 is analternative representation for system 100 and can utilize componentsdetailed therein in the performance of described functions.

In system 200, a shopper can conduct e-commerce transactions using ashopping interface 210, such as a browser 212, a text messaginginterface 213, an e-mail interface 214, a phone interface 215, a faxinterface 216, a kiosk interface 217, and the like. Input can includefree form input, which the input processor 220 receives. The inputprocessor 220 can extract semantics from the input that relates to atleast one item available for sale. Available items can be specified inan inventory data store 223 of an e-commerce server 222.

Whenever an unambiguous match between extracted semantics and inventoryitems occurs, those items can be automatically placed in a shopping cart230 along with any discerned quantities and shipping addressinformation. Ambiguities can be resoled and/or accuracy of other entriesimproved by using shopper specific information maintained within ashopper profile/preferences data store 228. Shopper specific settingscan be configured using a configuration component 224, which can bebased upon automatically determined shopper data, shopper enteredinformation, and historical e-commerce transaction data. Thepersonalization/rules engine 226 can establish merchant and/ore-commerce server 222 specific rules for applying shopperprofile/preference information to e-commerce transactions. Processingresults from the configuration components 224 can cause changes toitems/data contained within the shopping cart 230.

Once items are contained within the shopping cart 230, the shopper canbe provided with a series of options to edit, update, and otherwisemodify entries of the shopping cart 230. For example, when an ambiguityexists for a desired item, the shopper can be prompted to select apreferred item from a presented list. In another example, multiplemerchant sources (all accessible through the e-commerce server 222) canprovide a shopper desired item, and the shopper can select a preferredmerchant source. Interactions to edit shopping cart items can includefree form input, which is processed by input processor 220. System 200in its various embodiments contemplates the use of a multimodalinterface and/or an interface (for interface 210) that permits both freeform and directed interactions.

As presented herein, each of the data stores 223 and 228 (as well asdata store 140 of system 100) can be a physical or virtual storage spaceconfigured to store digital information. Data stores 140, 223, and 228can be physically implemented within any type of hardware including, butnot limited to, a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a semiconductormemory, a digitally encoded plastic memory, a holographic memory, or anyother recording medium. Each of the data stores 140, 223, and 228 can bea stand-alone storage unit as well as a storage unit formed from aplurality of physical devices. Additionally, information can be storedwithin data store 140, 223, and 228 in a variety of manners. Forexample, information can be stored within a database structure or can bestored within one or more files of a file storage system, where eachfile may or may not be indexed for information searching purposes.Further, data stores 140, 223, and/or 228 can utilize one or moreencryption mechanisms to protect stored information from unauthorizedaccess.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of a method 300 for conducting e-commercetransactions based in part upon free form user input in accordance withan embodiment of the inventive arrangements disclosed herein. Method 300can be performed in the context of system 100, system 200, and/or anysimilar e-commerce system that includes an input processing componentfor semantically interpreting free form input.

Method 300 can begin in step 305, when a shopper can access ane-commerce server. For example, a shopper can log onto a Web siteprovided by the e-commerce server. Method 300 interactions are notlimited to Web based ones, however, and other mechanisms for interacting(e.g., accessing an IVR system via a telephone) are contemplated, aselaborated upon in system 100 and 200 respectively. In step 310, theshopper can submit a shopping request in a natural language (or otherfree form) format to an e-commerce system. The shopping request can beprovided using online forms, e-mail, fax, voice over a voicecommunication channel, mail, chat, and the like.

In step 315, an input processing system can process the shoppingrequest. The input processing system can include speech recognitioncomponents, OCR components, text analyzing components, NLU components,and the like, which are selectively used as appropriate for the type ofmessage within which the shopping request is contained. In step 320, oneor more shopping items determined from the shopping request can bedetected.

A check for ambiguities can be performed in step 325. In step 330,requested items that are unambiguous can be loaded into a shopping cartor other e-commerce artifact, which is associated with a shopperspecific e-commerce transaction. In step 335, ambiguous items can befurther resolved by a configuration component. If not completelyresolved initially, ambiguous items can be narrowed to a manageable setof possible items. Optional further shopper interactions (e.g.,selection of a narrowed option set) can then occur. Results of thenarrowing process can place new items in the shopping cart.

Accordingly, as shown by step 340, a shopper specific shopping cart canbe populated with items ascertained from the shopping request.Additionally, a set of user-selectable options can be narrowed, such asediting options, check-out options, and the like can be associated withthe shopping cart. In step 345, the shopper can be presented with theshopping cart and can be permitted to utilize one or more of theshopping cart options. This presentation can occur in real-time, such aswhen the e-commerce transaction is conducted via a Web site, or overtime through a series of exchanged messages, such as when the e-commercetransaction is conducted via e-mail, mail, or fax messages.Notifications, such as fax notifications and/or e-mail notifications,and/or postal mail notifications, can be provided to inform a shopperthat their shopping requests have been processed. In one optionalembodiment, a real-time interactive modality (e.g., an online Web basedmodality and/or a telephony based modality) can be requested to finalizean e-commerce transaction, even when original shopping requests aresubmitted through a non real-time modality (e.g., mail, fax, e-mail, andthe like).

In step 350, the shopper can optionally edit populated shopping cartitems. In step 355, the shopper can confirm items in the shopping cartand can finalize the e-commerce transaction. For instance, the shoppercan opt to check-out. The user can be prompted to enter any missingcheck-out information, such as shipping address information, paymentinformation, and the like. It should be noted that some or all of thisinformation can be automatically extracted from previously provided freeform input contained within shopping requests, which was processed by aninput processing component. Any missing information can also be providedwithin free form messages, which the input processing component canhandle. A purchase order (PO) and other necessary e-commerce transactionartifacts can be automatically generated during the check-out phase ofthe transaction. The method 300 can be repeated for other e-commercetransactions as desired. Moreover, past transaction history can bestored and used to increase accuracy of future transactions. Forexample, the configuration component can weigh items that havepreviously been purchased by a shopper when resolving ambiguities.

FIG. 4 provides an example 400 of free form text processing during ane-commerce transaction. The example 400 can be conducted using a system100 or 200. Example 400 includes a shopping request message 405containing content provided in a free form format. Specifically contentcan include “I need 5 gallon Fat Free milk, 2 OREO cookie packets, 10CAMPBELL Tomato Soup 10 oz., 5 QUAKER OATS 30 oz., 2 Jumbo pack HUGGIESDiaper, 3 backpacks, 10 23 oz. ENFAMIL milk, 5 packs of cheese. Chargedto my credit card and sent to my home.”

An input processing component can identify a series of tokens 410-428that have meaning in an e-commerce context. Different types of tokens,such as purchase item tokens 430 and shopping detail tokens 432, can beused. Purchase item tokens 430 can include information related to adesired item and an item quantity. Detail tokens 432 can includeinformation related to shipping, payment, and the like.

Additionally, different tokens 410-428 can have a different identifiedscope. For example, tokens 410-424 have a unit scope specific to acorresponding token unit. For example, token 410 of “5 gallon fat freemilk” applies to a single purchase item. Tokens 426-428 have a globalscope that applies to all of the purchase item tokens 430 in the message405. For example, token 426 of “my credit card” identifies a paymentmechanism for paying for items specified by tokens 410-424. Other scopesnot shown by example 400 can also exist. For example, a free form phraseof “milk, OJ, and Juice—5 each” can have quantity (which is a separatetoken) with a scope that applies to multiple items (each being aseparate item specific token).

After tokens 410-428 are generated, categorized, and/or scopedetermined, a first token processing pass can be performed. In the firstpass, tokens can be processed and categorized into unambiguous items 440and ambiguous items 445, where details of the unambiguous items areclear. For example, a brand, item, and quantity for items associatedwith tokens 412, 414, 416, and 418 an be clear. Brands and/or otherpurchase specifics for ambiguous items 445 can be initially unknown.

A second processing phase can resolve ambiguities using purchasehistory, preference, and profile information of the shopper. As shown byillustration 450, a shopper's profile can specify that ENFAMIL LIPILwith iron is a preferred baby formula. Shopper purchase history can alsoindicate that cheese refers to KRAFT 10 oz. packets, which resolvesambiguities of token 424.

The second processing phase may leave one or more items unresolved, suchas token 420 of three backpacks, which is shown by illustration 452.Brand popularity and general shopper profile information can be used tolocate one or more potential candidates for an unresolved item. Forexample, quality and price thresholds in a shopper profile combined withbackpack popularity data (obtained from the purchases of other shoppers)can suggest that backpack refers to “JANSPORT, COLUMBIA, or NORTH FACE”which can be presented to a shopper for shopper selection.

When quantities, brands, colors, merchant source, and other criteria arenot provided, these criteria can be automatically inferred from customerpreferences, history, merchant specials, popularity, and other suchfactors. In one embodiment, a user interface can indicate inferreddetails using a disguisable indicator to focus user attention tofacilitate confirmation.

For example, a GUI interface can use different colored fields forentries having an associated accuracy score above a previously setthreshold from those entries with a lower accuracy score. Backpackspecific items can be presented in a field having a red background,brands for ambiguous items can be presented in fields having a yellowbackground, and unambiguous items can be presented in fields having agreen background. When multiple possible attribute values aredetermined, a pull down control can be provided to permit a user toquickly adjust field values. For example, a pull down control forbackpack can include values of JANSPORT, COLUMBIA, NORTH FACE, andOTHER, where OTHER provides users with different options. Furtheravailable options, such as item color and/or merchant, can also bepresented within pull-down selectors with defaults established.

It should be appreciated that example 400 is only one possible exampleillustrating a use of the inventive arrangements disclosed herein. Theinvention should not be limited to techniques and arrangements expressedherein. Consequently, the example 400 serves as a concrete example toclarify aspects of the invention and is not intended to be construed asa limitation imposed on the inventive scope of the present application.For example, multiple conventional natural language processingtechnologies currently exist and the invention is not limited to thetoken identification and processing techniques discussed herein.Similarly, numerous direct marketing and customer preferencedetermination techniques can be used to resolve item ambiguities.Further still, details about a user interface in example 400 focusedupon a Web based GUI embodiment and other item prompting,differentiation, and presentation mechanisms are butter suited for otherinterface types.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart of a method 500 where a service agent canconfigure an e-commerce system to handle free form shopper input inaccordance with an embodiment of the inventive arrangements disclosedherein. Method 500 can be preformed in the context of systems 100, 200,and/or similar system.

Method 500 can begin in step 505, when a customer initiates a servicerequest. The service request can be a request for a service agent toextend an existing e-commerce system to handle free form input or toestablish a new e-commerce system with free form input handlingcapabilities. The service request can also be a request to troubleshoota problem with an existing e-commerce system that handles free forminput.

In step 510, a human agent can be selected to respond to the servicerequest. In step 515, the human agent can analyze a customer's currentsystem and can develop a solution. In step 520, the human agent canconfigure the customer's system to conduct e-commerce transactionsinvolving free form input, which is automatically handled by anautomated computing component. This can include the installation of ahardware/software and the training of customer personnel in aspects ofthe e-commerce system. In step 525, the human agent can complete theservice activities.

The present invention may be realized in hardware, software, or acombination of hardware and software. The present invention may berealized in a centralized fashion in one computer system or in adistributed fashion where different elements are spread across severalinterconnected computer systems. Any kind of computer system or otherapparatus adapted for carrying out the methods described herein issuited. A typical combination of hardware and software may be a generalpurpose computer system with a computer program that, when being loadedand executed, controls the computer system such that it carries out themethods described herein.

The present invention also may be embedded in a computer programproduct, which comprises all the features enabling the implementation ofthe methods described herein, and which when loaded in a computer systemis able to carry out these methods. Computer program in the presentcontext means any expression, in any language, code or notation, of aset of instructions intended to cause a system having an informationprocessing capability to perform a particular function either directlyor after either or both of the following: a) conversion to anotherlanguage, code or notation; b) reproduction in a different materialform.

This invention may be embodied in other forms without departing from thespirit or essential attributes thereof. Accordingly, reference should bemade to the following claims, rather than to the foregoingspecification, as indicating the scope of the invention.

1. An e-commerce shopping method comprising: receiving, via at least oneprogram executing on computer equipment, wherein the at least oneprogram is stored on at least one non-transitory storage medium, shopperfree form input representing an unstructured shopping request, whereinthe free form input comprises at least two of a free form voice input, atext message, an email, a fax message, a browser input and an image andwherein the free form input further comprises information related to oneor more items, at least one of a shipping address, and payment details;extracting semantics by a software program executing on computerequipment, wherein the software program is stored on at least onenon-transitory storage medium, from the shopper free form input relatingto at least one item available for sale; automatically adding, via atleast one program executing on computer equipment, wherein the at leastone program is stored on at least one non-transitory storage medium, atleast one item to an electronic shopping cart based upon the extractedsemantics; and providing, via at least one program executing on computerequipment, wherein the at least one program is stored on at least onenon-transitory storage medium, an ability to a corresponding shopper toautomatically purchase the items contained in the electronic shoppingcart.
 2. The method of claim 1, the extracting step further comprising:during the extracting step, ascertaining, via at least one programexecuting on computer equipment, wherein the at least one program isstored on at least one non-transitory storage medium, an ambiguityregarding a plurality of possible items to which a portion of the freeform input refers; and resolving, via at least one program executing oncomputer equipment, wherein the at least one program is stored on atleast one non-transitory storage medium, the ambiguity in favor of oneof the possible items based upon previously stored data contained in amachine readable media relating to the shopper, wherein the previouslystored data includes at least one of shopper purchase history data andshopper preference data, wherein the at least one added item includesthe favored item of the resolving step.
 3. The method of claim 1,further comprising: during the extracting step, ascertaining, via atleast one program executing on computer equipment, wherein the at leastone program is stored on at least one non-transitory storage medium, anambiguity regarding a plurality of possible items to which a portion ofthe free form input refers; narrowing, via at least one programexecuting on computer equipment, wherein the at least one program isstored on at least one non-transitory storage medium, possibleinterpretations for the ambiguity to a set of likely meanings; andpresenting, via at least one program executing on computer equipment,wherein the at least one program is stored on at least onenon-transitory storage medium, a set of shopper selectable options forresolving the ambiguity, wherein said set of options is based on resultsof the narrowing step.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the steps ofmethod 1 are performed during a real-time interactive communicationsession between a shopper and an automated commerce system.
 5. Themethod of claim 4, further comprising: presenting, via at least oneprogram executing on computer equipment, wherein the at least oneprogram is stored on at least one non-transitory storage medium, theelectronic shopping cart items for shopper confirmation; providing, viaat least one program executing on computer equipment, wherein the atleast one program is stored on at least one non-transitory storagemedium, at least one option for the corresponding shopper to editpresented shopping cart item information; receiving, via at least oneprogram executing on computer equipment, wherein the at least oneprogram is stored on at least one non-transitory storage medium, a userselected response to check out items in the electronic shopping cart;and finalizing, via at least one program executing on computerequipment, wherein the at least one program is stored on at least onenon-transitory storage medium, an electronic commerce transaction duringcheck out to finalize the shopper purchase of the check out items. 6.The method of claim 4, wherein the real-time interactive communicationsession is at least one of an online Web based shopping session, aninteractive voice responsive session, and a text-exchange session. 7.The method claim 1, wherein the received free form input is providedwithin at least one of an e-mail message and a fax message.
 8. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the free form input is in a natural languageformat, wherein the natural language format refers to a formatcorresponding to a natural language, which is a language created byhuman beings for interpersonal communication between a set of humanbeings, wherein the natural language is distinguished from constructedlanguages and formal languages.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein thefree form input in a natural language format for an English language asspoken between two human beings for human-to-human communications. 10.The method of claim 1, wherein said steps of claim 1 are steps preformedautomatically by at least one machine in accordance with at least onecomputer program having a plurality of code sections that are executableby the at least one machine.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein thesteps of claim 1 are performed by at least one of a service agent and acomputing device manipulated by the service agent, the steps beingperformed in response to a service request.
 12. A system for conductingelectronic commerce comprising: an e-commerce server configured toreceive shopper input, to conduct an e-commerce transaction based uponthis input, wherein during the e-commerce transaction a shopperpurchases at least one available item; an input processing systemconfigured to receive free form shopper input comprising at least two ofa free form voice input, a text message, an email, a fax message, abrowser input, and an image and semantically interpret the free formshopper input into discrete data fields relevant for the e-commercetransaction, wherein the free form shopper input is an unstructuredshopping request comprising information related to one or more items, atleast one of a shipping address, and payment details; and a merchandisedata store configured to record a set of items available for purchase,wherein at least a portion of the discrete data fields identify shopperdesired ones of the set of items.
 13. The system of claim 12 furthercomprising: a disambiguation engine configured to resolve ambiguitiesdetected by the input processing system when converting contentcontained in the free form shopper input to information placed in thediscrete data fields; and a shopper data store configured to store andindex shopper specific information that includes information relating toshopper preferences and purchase history, wherein the disambiguationengine utilizes data stored in the shopper data store to resolveambiguities.
 14. The system of claim 12, further comprising: a naturallanguage understanding engine configured to convert free form shopperinput into data into discrete units of information that are associatedwith the e-commerce transaction.
 15. The system of claim 14, wherein theshopper free form input is contained within shopper provided utterances,said system further comprising: a speech recognition engine configuredto convert the shopper provided utterances into text, which is furtherprocessed by the natural language understanding engine.
 16. The systemof claim 14, wherein the shopper free form input is contained within animage file, said system further comprising: an optional characterrecognition engine configured to extract text from the image file, whichis further processed by the natural language understanding engine.
 17. Aprogram stored in at least one non-transitory storage medium that whenexecuted by at least one computing device produces a shopper facinge-commerce interface comprises: a natural language input element throughwhich a shopper is able to input an unstructured shopping request in anatural language format, wherein the free form input comprises at leasttwo of a free form voice input, a text message, an email, a fax message,a browser input and an image and wherein the free form input furthercomprises information related to one or more items, at least one of ashipping address, and payment details; a shopping cart configured topresent a plurality of items specified by the shopper for shopperpurchase, wherein the presented items are determined from theunstructured shopping request provided via the natural language inputelement; and at least one shopping interactive option configured to beselected by a user, wherein a selection of the shopping interactiveoption results in at least one of a change in the items presented in theshopping cart and a finalization of an e-commerce transaction involvinga purchase of the items presented in the shopping cart.
 18. The programstored in at least one non-transitory storage medium of claim 17, saide-commerce interface further comprising: a shopper profile editinginterface configured to permit a shopper to configure item purchasingpreferences, which are used by a natural language processing system toresolve ambiguities detected in the input when the natural languageprocessing system semantically interprets the unstructured shoppingrequest into discrete data elements specific to at least one of thepresented items.
 19. The program stored in at least one non-transitorystorage medium of claim 17, wherein said e-commerce interface is a Webbased interface accessible via a browser having a graphical userinterface (GUI), wherein the natural language input element, theshopping interactive option, and the shopping cart are represented byGUI elements.
 20. The program stored in at least one non-transitorystorage medium of claim 17, wherein said e-commerce interface is a voiceonly interface for interacting with an automated voice response systemover a real-time communication channel.